Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Raad & Mithaaq

The twins were born in in Al Sheikh Ali neighborhood, in Baghdad 1973, which is a popular area in the Iraqi capital. They started singing in wedding parties for free, singing cover songs by famous Iraqi singers such as Yas Khidhir and Riadh Ahmed. Also they covered Um Kalthoom and George Wassouf songs in their performance list.

Raad and Mithaq Al Samaray became known to the public in 1998 when they were invited to a radio talk show hosted by Majeed Al Samaray called "dialogue, with no limits" where another host was present, the famous Iraqi musician Talib Al Gharagholly, who was stunned by the performance of the twins and gave big compliments and adviced them to work harder and to exercise in order to improve better with their musical career. Since then, the twins appeared on a number of programs and talk shows, and for years followed they built large public base through many live performances in Iraq and Syria.

At that time, the Iraqi twins rejected the idea of making their own music, because of their family's objection to the idea of making a career in music, in addition to the high cost of making music, which is financially not affordable for them. Yet, the time came when the twins had to take the decision, and "Dhihketly" was the key to fame. A song that was made as a video clip, Central-Iraq dialect in the lyrics was used, and a funny story line of two look-alike brothers fight for the heart of one girl. The video clip of the song also boosted the success of the song. Bigger success achieved when the twins appeared on Al sharqiya TV channel in an interview on "Tarachi" program, while they were filming another video clip of one of their songs.

This was the first time I saw those guys on TV and saw "Dhihketly" later on.

The twins put it clear more than once that they are not eager to make quick dance songs, because they like to make slow, romantic, and more melodic style of songs. However, the songs they became known for are the quick and semi-commercial, yet, according to them will and should not be considered as the brand they would be known for.

With the help of Iraqi artist, Yihya Al Jabiry, Raad and Mithaq Al Samaray appeared more on TV and they became more willing to participate in different Iraqi music activities - there is a very nice "mawal" on the internet by the twins singing for Iraq.

Love their voice, and the combination of traditional Iraqi singing style with the modern technological mixing of the music.